The last part of the season has been beneficial for Nuggets point guard Aaron Brooks.

Brooks came to Denver at the trade deadline from Houston for Jordan Hamilton, and the move was viewed as a chance for both players to re-establish themselves.

Brooks, who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, has made the most of what is an audition for the Nuggets — and the rest of the NBA, for that matter. Wednesday, he had his best night in any uniform this season in the Nuggets' 118-109 win over the Pistons at the Pepsi Center.

"I kind of just took what the defense gave me," Brooks said. "We hit some big shots, wanted to be a little more aggressive."

It was the Nuggets' fourth win in their last five games.

Detroit Pistons guard Peyton Siva, left, jokes with Denver Nuggets guard Aaron Brooks before the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Denver on Wednesday, March 19, 2014. (David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)

Brooks is a mobile, clever player, and that was on full display in his 27-point, 17-assist performance.

"It seemed like it just happened today," Brooks said. "I wasn't going out there trying to do anything special. That's what the defensive gave. Guys hit shots and it just happened."

The Nuggets needed him because Ty Lawson was a late scratch — just a couple of minutes before the game started due to a sinus infection — and that pushed Brooks into the starting lineup. His final line was Lawson-esque. Brooks' assists were a career high. His points were a season high.

And the Nuggets rode his hot hand and playmaking along with Randy Foye to the finish. Foye scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half, when he got hot from 3-point range.

"I think we're coming into our own right now," Foye said, "just understanding what we have to do."

But aside from some solid individual performances, a lot of what the Nuggets accomplished Wednesday had to do with them fine-tuning their game and then grinding out a comeback in the second half.

Turnovers and shoddy execution marred their performance through 2½ quarters. The Pistons aren't known for lock-down defense, but Nuggets' carelessness on offense sure made them look like the Bulls.

That changed with 9:25 left in the third quarter.

Down 70-60, the Nuggets ended the quarter on a 25-14 run, and when Foye hit a layup with 9.2 seconds left, they took the lead. They stretched that margin to 13 points in the fourth before holding on against a late Pistons charge.

"Tonight's game was a tale of two halves," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. "The first half looked eerily similar to what we have done after we have a big win — come out and play flat. So we talked about that at halftime and said luckily there's two halves and we have the opportunity to turn it around, and I thought we did that in the second half."

NEW YORK (AP) — Viewers said farewell to Amy Poehler and the gang of Pawnee, Indiana, bureaucrats on NBC's "Parks and Recreation," in a finale that made more of a dent online than on television. Full Story